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Why would reading the art of computer programming be more impressive than reading fifty goosebump books? Who’s to say you can’t read a book a week and also con

Why would reading the art of computer programming be more impressive than reading fifty goosebump books? Who’s to say you can’t read a book a week and also contemplate on it? What about the people who read a lot of books on the same subject? Like going deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of machine learning by reading a new book on the subject each week? Number of books per year is a useful method for measuring the over all trend though. If the number hasn’t really changed, despite the introduction of digital technology, then it’s fair to say that digital technology hasn’t massively impacted the amount of books being sold.

watwut 8y ago
Because reading goosebump books is easy and relaxing while reading Art of Computer Programming and doing exercises takes a lot of effort. You can do dozens of pages per evening even if you are tired, Knuth can not be read by that speed unless you already know it all. It is difference between going for a walk and running 10km. You can contemplate fun adventure books if you like, but it is not the same as learning algorithms. Likewise, you can read hundred of pages of fun page-turner detective stories or pop science easily, but going through algebra or philosophy or something like takes way more effort and proceeds much more slowly - sometimes you will move by 2 pages per evening because understanding it requires more effort.
- eksemplar 8y ago
  People are different though. I have a degree and I hire/manage people, and as such I’m eligible to work as an examiner in my country. Our universities want business to cooperate with education, so parts of the examination staff are outside managers. Because of this I keep fairly up to date with the art of programming, and I can easily go through an average programming book and it’s exercises, much easier than if I were to read through a piece of Lovecraft fiction. Someone familiar with Greek mythology and no programming knowledge would have it the other way around. Which one of us deserve respect? Is it the effort bit? So that I’m only impressive when I challenge myself? I think it’s narrow minded. To me effort and challenge isn’t impressive on their own. What is impressive is finding out what you want to do, and then doing it. And if that’s reading 50 goosebump books in a year, or, going through the art of programming, we’ll then that’s about equal in my book. On top of that there is the self-improvement bit, I’m all for it, but only when you actually want to do it. There is nothing sadder, to me, than people who slave away in the self-improvement hamster wheel, not because they really want to, but because they think they have to. It still doesn’t really have anything to do with book sales statistics, but I don’t think you can really say much about people, even if you knew the statistics of what they were reading.
  - watwut 8y ago
    Knuth (art of programming) is no average programming book. It is good book and worth effort, but it is no easy read. You can read lovercraft or goosebump without any prerequisite knowledge. Greek or otherwise. Authors took care and effort to make it so. They succeeded. It was intentionally written to be pleasant and easy read, both their goal and skills were unlike those of Knuth. I used to read a lot of books like that, it is not that I would think bad of author of those books. I appreciate them for what they are. Reading goosebump book and art of programming are not comparable actions. It is good argument for why counting books per year without context makes no sense.
    - eksemplar 8y ago
      I’ll assume that you haven’t read a whole lot of lovecraft, because he really does the reader no favors, using references to classic mythology to describe whole sets of scenery and moods. Making it pretty much impossible to read quite a few of the stories if you’re unfamiliar with some obscure Greek myth. I have read Knuth though them being part of the CS curriculum, back when I took my degree. They are very revered too, and reasonable so, because they are hard to fault. I personally think they are a needlessly waste of your time though. There are much more approachable books, that’ll teach you the same content in a much friendlier way. I don’t think we’ll agree though. Especially if you hold harder programming books in higher regard than harder fiction. It took me significantly more effort to go through Dostoyevsky than it did me to go through Knuth, for instance. And you still haven’t pointed out who exactly the numbers are a useless metric. If book sales aren’t down, isn’t it fair to say, that people are still buying books?
      - watwut 8y ago
        I just ignored those parts. When I read for pleasure, I happily not understand references like that and enjoy the rest. It is not like Lovercraft story mattered for literally anything, I rarely care about scenery anyway and Greek references even less. So, it is fine for me to skim those parts. There are differently difficult books and trying to pretend that goosebump has anything to do with Dostoyevsky or whatever is odd. As for waste of time, if Knuth is waste of time, so are there adventures. They are literally meant for that. I liked Dostoyevsky, dunno why that book I read would be difficult to read book. Maybe you read different book or worst translation. I don't think original comments in thread we both joined had anything to do with sales.
j7ake 8y ago
You can bring it to the trivial case where you compare reading one children's book with reading a single volume of the art of computer programming.

watwut 8y ago

Because reading goosebump books is easy and relaxing while reading Art of Computer Programming and doing exercises takes a lot of effort. You can do dozens of pages per evening even if you are tired, Knuth can not be read by that speed unless you already know it all. It is difference between going for a walk and running 10km. You can contemplate fun adventure books if you like, but it is not the same as learning algorithms. Likewise, you can read hundred of pages of fun page-turner detective stories or pop science easily, but going through algebra or philosophy or something like takes way more effort and proceeds much more slowly - sometimes you will move by 2 pages per evening because understanding it requires more effort.

eksemplar 8y ago
People are different though. I have a degree and I hire/manage people, and as such I’m eligible to work as an examiner in my country. Our universities want business to cooperate with education, so parts of the examination staff are outside managers. Because of this I keep fairly up to date with the art of programming, and I can easily go through an average programming book and it’s exercises, much easier than if I were to read through a piece of Lovecraft fiction. Someone familiar with Greek mythology and no programming knowledge would have it the other way around. Which one of us deserve respect? Is it the effort bit? So that I’m only impressive when I challenge myself? I think it’s narrow minded. To me effort and challenge isn’t impressive on their own. What is impressive is finding out what you want to do, and then doing it. And if that’s reading 50 goosebump books in a year, or, going through the art of programming, we’ll then that’s about equal in my book. On top of that there is the self-improvement bit, I’m all for it, but only when you actually want to do it. There is nothing sadder, to me, than people who slave away in the self-improvement hamster wheel, not because they really want to, but because they think they have to. It still doesn’t really have anything to do with book sales statistics, but I don’t think you can really say much about people, even if you knew the statistics of what they were reading.
- watwut 8y ago
  Knuth (art of programming) is no average programming book. It is good book and worth effort, but it is no easy read. You can read lovercraft or goosebump without any prerequisite knowledge. Greek or otherwise. Authors took care and effort to make it so. They succeeded. It was intentionally written to be pleasant and easy read, both their goal and skills were unlike those of Knuth. I used to read a lot of books like that, it is not that I would think bad of author of those books. I appreciate them for what they are. Reading goosebump book and art of programming are not comparable actions. It is good argument for why counting books per year without context makes no sense.
  - eksemplar 8y ago
    I’ll assume that you haven’t read a whole lot of lovecraft, because he really does the reader no favors, using references to classic mythology to describe whole sets of scenery and moods. Making it pretty much impossible to read quite a few of the stories if you’re unfamiliar with some obscure Greek myth. I have read Knuth though them being part of the CS curriculum, back when I took my degree. They are very revered too, and reasonable so, because they are hard to fault. I personally think they are a needlessly waste of your time though. There are much more approachable books, that’ll teach you the same content in a much friendlier way. I don’t think we’ll agree though. Especially if you hold harder programming books in higher regard than harder fiction. It took me significantly more effort to go through Dostoyevsky than it did me to go through Knuth, for instance. And you still haven’t pointed out who exactly the numbers are a useless metric. If book sales aren’t down, isn’t it fair to say, that people are still buying books?
    - watwut 8y ago
      I just ignored those parts. When I read for pleasure, I happily not understand references like that and enjoy the rest. It is not like Lovercraft story mattered for literally anything, I rarely care about scenery anyway and Greek references even less. So, it is fine for me to skim those parts. There are differently difficult books and trying to pretend that goosebump has anything to do with Dostoyevsky or whatever is odd. As for waste of time, if Knuth is waste of time, so are there adventures. They are literally meant for that. I liked Dostoyevsky, dunno why that book I read would be difficult to read book. Maybe you read different book or worst translation. I don't think original comments in thread we both joined had anything to do with sales.

j7ake 8y ago

You can bring it to the trivial case where you compare reading one children's book with reading a single volume of the art of computer programming.